Not the Men You Used to Be
by Indiepup
Summary: (One shot.) Alice has been friends with the princes of Asgard since she was young. But time wasn't very kind to some of her friendships. Not everything is the same anymore. (Sorry, terrible at summaries. My first story here. Rated T for some violence and I'm paranoid about rating too low. No romance involved in the story.)


"TAG! YOU'RE IT!" Laughter and shouts of joy bounced off the golden halls. Guards shook their heads and servants dodged out of the paths of the speeding children. Alice looped around a corner and hid against the wall. She held her skirt so she could take off running at a given moment and glanced out the nearby window. The sky was bright and blue and cast a beautiful shine on the golden buildings. A group of birds danced through the air, spinning and twisting in an almost hypnotic way. But Alice would not let herself be distracted. Her head snapped from the window when she heard the shuffle of boots on the tile floor. She held her breath as she watched the blonde haired prince of Asgard sneak down the hall. She tried to step away quietly but her movement caught his eye. "FOUND YOU!" He shouted loudly. She took off giggling and shrieking down the hall, her brother soon after and Thor gaining fast behind. Thor nearly tackled her brother to the ground. Alice leaped up to a window ledge, and, eyeing the stone work around her, up to the the ledge above her. "Not fair, Alice!" Thor shouted at her. She stuck out her tongue and laughed. "Let me help!" Her brother cried. "No, I'll get her!" Thor yelled. Alice began to move and lost her footing, falling on the ground with a cry. Thor and her brother stood over her. Neither made an effort to help her up. She struggled to her feet and began to limp. "I don't think I can play anymore." The two boys groaned and ran off to start their game again, leaving her to help herself.

Dragging her foot slightly, Alice maneuvered through the elegant halls that wove like a maze. Her eyes passed over the golden stairwell and spied the second prince lounging with an old looking book. She smiled at the quiet prince who in return simply glanced back to his book. She limped to the stairs and plopped down next to Loki.  
"What are you reading?"  
"A book."

They both fell silent.

"What's it about?"  
"Different magic spells."  
"Oh, interesting!"  
To Loki's dismay Alice remained seated on the steps. He wished simply to read without being bothered.  
Though she wasn't distracting, and her questions had stopped, and she seemed content just to sit and read over his shoulder. He brushed it off.

"Hey, I recognize that spell!"  
Alice's sudden outburst startled Loki. "What?" he asked.  
"That spell!" she jabbed her finger against the book's pages. "I know that one! I could teach you it if you'd like."  
"...Really?"  
"Yeah!"

Years continued to pass and Alice's friendship with the princes grew. She would help Loki with his pranks, leading the victims where they would meet their unexpected surprise, or distract guards, and even, if Loki was being too cruel in her opinion, warn the unfortunate victim of his tricks. She and Sif would train with the princes often, and she became skilled with a bow and arrow. Thor would spar with others and occasionally join her in target practice. To his annoyance she often bested him.

Thor loosed an arrow, striking the target within the second ring of the bulls eye. "Ha! My best shot so far. Good luck beating that. I doubt you could." Alice's arrow sailed true to her aim and sunk with a _thwak _a few inches from the center of the bulls eye. Thor tossed his bow to the ground. "I must say that I'm quite embarrassed to be put to shame by your skill, Alice." Thor commented, eyeing where the arrow had hit enviously. "Well if you don't practice you'll never best me." She mocked at him in a playful tone. Alice reached to her quiver for another arrow. The arrow bent at an odd angle as she tried to slide it into the bow, so she checked to see if it was broken. She shrieked, seeing a snake slithering in her hand. Laughter erupted a few feet from her, and she glanced up to see Loki, Sif, and her brother. Alice immediately knew it was one of Loki's tricks.

"Loki, you-" She sputtered, he still laughing. She smacked his armor. "You cow!" She laughed. With the wave of a hand Loki turned the snake, now making his way down the hall, back to an arrow. Thor fumbled with his bow and mumbled something about just going back to spar. Loki pulled out one of his throwing knives and joined in. Alice went over to help Thor on his aim. "No, hold it like this." Alice demonstrated it to him. She leaned over to fix his grip of the bow when she noticed a peculiar smell.

"Have you been drinking?"

"No."

"Yes, he has." Sif corrected.

"Well that definitely will not help your aim." Alice said, her eyes drifting to Loki as he went to retrieve his throwing knives. A smirk crawled across her face as she reached for one of her arrows and snapped the tip off cleanly. Loki's back remained turned as Alice took aim at him. The others caught on to her plan and had to stifle their laughter. She released the string and the arrow flew straight for the prince. Though she had aimed well her arrow halted at her target, Loki catching the arrow the moment before it struck him. Alice's jaw dropped and Loki grinned at her mockingly. "How did you-but-" The entire room erupted with laughter. Alice shouted an insult but was barley audible the way she was laughing.

She became very close friends with the princes. Then the day came when Thor was to inherit the throne.

Loki took a prank to far. Made too cruel of a trick. He uncovered something he wished he hadn't. He learned his true parentage Thor was banished for nearly throwing Asgard into a war. Odin fell into the Odinsleep. Loki seized the opportunity to become king. He knew not how to rule. Thor returned from banishment and struggled to remove Loki from the throne. Something changed in Loki. Something drove him into chaos. He fell from the Bifrost in a battle with Thor. The entire kingdom thought him dead. All mourned, though Alice knew it had impacted Thor the hardest. He did not eat, nor did he sleep or leave the castle often. He slowly eased back into his normal routine, but it still dragged him down.

Then they learned of the truth. Loki was on Midgard. Alive. He was more powerful and more dangerous than anyone wanted to believe. He meant to take Midgard for himself. Thor went to Midgard to take his brother back home. From what Thor had told Alice was able to figure that it took Thor and five others, maybe more, to bring Loki down. In the process Loki had killed more people then Alice wished to imagine. She knew their friendship was forgotten or broken.

Loki was captured, hand cuffed, and muzzled. The punishment decided for him was as this:

Any magic they could take from him would be taken. Some magic was ingrained to deep in his being to be removed.  
He was to be kept on Asgard, under the watch of Thor. If Thor was to travel to Midgard, Loki would come as well.  
Lastly Loki was to remain muzzled so that he may not lie to anyone ever again.

It was an odd sight seeing the fallen prince in the castle again. If one could see him. He avoided contact with people as much as possible. When Alice did see him she could tell he was visibly different. Beneath his eyes there were dark colors, likely from his lack of sleep. His expression was often blank or one of sorrow. His eyes themselves looked the most different. Alice could tell something about him by looking at his eyes. He had changed.

It was by chance that day Alice had met Loki in the hallway.  
He appeared in the hallway so suddenly that she almost jumped. "Hello Loki." She said. He glared at her with a look that sent chills down her spine. She had stopped next to him and he halted as well. She shifted her weight from foot to foot, ever conscious of Loki's stare.  
He continued on his way. "Why'd you do it?" Alice blurted. Loki stopped, not even turning to face her. "Why did you do it?" She repeated, perfectly aware that he could not respond. She walked back to him.  
"The entire kingdom assumed you dead, Loki! We mourned. All of us did! I...I..." She paused, her voice beginning to quiver. "We were shaken. It didn't matter where you from. It didn't matter if you weren't Asgardian. Your brother-" Loki snapped his head up, his eyes burning into Alice's skin when she said "Brother". She swallowed nervously. "Thor was distraught. He was willing to give you a second chance, Loki! Everyone was! But you...you..." Her voice trailed off. The atmosphere was tense and her words hung in the air. She grew angry knowing he couldn't respond. She stared at the muzzle covering his mouth. She reached out to it. In one swift movement Loki caught her hand, pressed his gauntlet to her neck, restricting her air flow and slammed her against the wall. She could hear his voice echo through her thoughts, crawling over her conscious. He was in her mind. She didn't know he could do that. She wanted him out.

"Stupid wench! Do you know what I went through? What was done to me? I lived in my brothers shadow only to learn I wasn't even part of the blood line. No one cared about 'Loki, the prince.' Everything that idiot I called my brother did was all the people cared about. His own father threw him from this realm, and I took his seat on the throne. And what do I get? He casts me out from this world and leaves me to die, do you REALLY think I'm the one to blame here!?"

Alice was gasping for air, unable to fight, a headache seizing her from having another voice scream in her mind. He filled her thoughts with terror and fear that gripped her mind and wouldn't let go. It turned her blood cold and sent shivers through her, her hands shaking as if she had become a frail rag doll.

Loki's rant was paused when he heard two guards laughing among each other as they walked along their patrol, just around the corner. He grabbed Alice's collar and dragged her to a more secluded area. Alice struggled against him, wriggling and kicking at him.  
Loki effortlessly restrained her movements and continued his speech.  
"I've been places your pathetic brain can't even begin to imagine! I found somewhere where they weren't afraid to give me power. But still no one could leave me alone. Do not even _bother_ questioning my actions, you pathetic child!" He released his grip on her and pulled his arm from her neck. Alice gasped for air, able to think straight again, Loki's voice now absent from her thoughts. She looked to him, terror in her eyes. He showed no sign of sympathy, no sign of forgiveness. Alice rubbed her throat where Loki's gauntlet had been. He left her standing there as she caught her breath, gasping, still registering the events that had just taken place. Loki almost looked ill. With one last vengeful glance he disappeared as suddenly as he appeared.

Alice stood there for what seemed to be hours but was only a few minutes. She willed herself to leave the spot, making sure to go in the opposite direction of Loki. She had forgotten where she was going and why she was going there, but one thought remained fresh in her mind, even while Loki's voice had invaded her thoughts. _Go to Thor._

She walked rather quickly to the throne room, the entire time going over what she would say about the matter. She had only just figured how to start when she nearly walked right into the man she was looking for. "Oh! Thor-" She quickly regained herself and knelt. He let out a hearty laugh. "You are a good friend, Alice. You need not bow in my court." Even though he said this he politely returned her gesture, taking her hand and kissing it.

They walked along the corridor, the conversation beginning politely then drifting to bushiness they had been involved in. They told stories, some that only one had remembered. They spoke of memories, laughed at the things they had done together, and memories they could not forget. Unavoidably the conversation turned to the subject of Loki. The two fell awkwardly silent.

"I spoke with Loki today." Thor, who had drifted into thought, snapped to attention at these words. "Of course he could not respond, but I crossed his path in the hallway. He..." Alice could see that Thor was staring at her neck. Loki's gauntlet had left a red impression on her neck. "You did more then see him in the hallway."

"I...He..." Alice choked back a sob and let out an uneven breath. "I became angry at the thoughts of what he had done. I confronted him on it, and he became violent. He spoke to me in my mind he...he bore into my thoughts. His voice occupied every space in my head and he..." Her voice trailed. Thor was deeply distressed, seeing his headstrong friend in this broken state. Alice looked out the window sitting near her. There Asgard stood, shining in all it's majesty. Birds twirled through the air, and one spiraled down, leaving the flock. "It's like I have never met him. Like he is a stranger to me." Her voice was solemn and quiet.

"Something has deeply moved the way Loki thinks. None of us could have seen any of this coming." The blonde haired king remarked. "Do you believe there is still hope for him? That he could still change?" She stared into the eyes of her king searching for an answer that she would like. "I do not know."

She lay in her chambers that night, unable to sleep. Her mind was filled with doubts and questions, sorrow and hope. She lay there as she reminisced upon the princes she grew up with. The Trickster and The Bragger. They had lived their out together and knew each other inside and out it seemed. They were not the same men they were then.

They had changed.

And Alice doubted they would ever be the same again.

* * *

**Indiepup here. I'd be thrilled if you reviewed this :)**


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